Nintendo Says ‘Sayonara’ To Club Nintendo Loyalty Program

For over six years, Nintendo fans have been able to earn themed rewards through the company's Club Nintendo loyalty program, but alas, the good times are coming to an end. No, Nintendo isn't going out of business or anything like that, however the Club Nintendo program is shutting down. That's the bad news. And the good?

Nintendo of America says it will be announcing a new customer loyalty program at a later date. In the meantime, Club Nintendo members in the U.S. and Canada can still earn additional Coins through the end of March, and redeem those Coins through the end of June for a variety of items, such as downloadable games, posters, character figures, and more.

"We thank all Club Nintendo members for their dedication to Nintendo games and their ongoing love for our systems and characters," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "We want to make this time of transition as easy as possible for our loyal Club Nintendo members, so we are going to add dozens of new rewards and downloadable games to help members clear out their Coin balances."

There will be "a number" of new physical reward options available in February, as well as many more downloadable games. And as a gift to Club Nintendo members, Nintendo will make the Flipnote Studio 3D software free to download in February.

Also on tap for February is the release of the "New Nintendo 3DS XL" handheld console in the U.S. It will be available on February 13, 2015, for $199.99 and include a bunch of feature and hardware upgrades over the existing 3DS XL console, including a faster processor, improved battery life, NFC support, and more.